Horacio Ramirez
turned in his third consecutive sterling
playoff start for Tijuana on Friday night, tossing seven-plus innings
of
five-hit shutout ball while Roberto Lopez had two hits and socked a
homer as
the Toros went on to whitewash Puebla, 4-0, in the Mexican League
championship
series.A season-high crowd at 11,906 at
Puebla's Estadio Hermanos Serdan saw their hometown Pericos drop their
third
consecutive game in the Serie del Rey,
putting Tijuana on the cusp of a four-game sweep for the border city's
first-ever professional baseball pennant.

Tijuana 4-7-1,
PUEBLA 0-6-2 (Tijuana
leads series, 3 games to 0)

W-H. Ramirez
(1-0).L-Outman (0-1).A-11,906.T-2:40.

As Hurricane
Katia neared landfall on the state of Veracruz
to the east, Puebla remained dry long enough for the visiting Tijuana
Toros to
top the defending champion Pericos, 4-0, to reach the brink of an LMB Serie del Rey sweep after losing in six
games last season to the Parrots.Former
big league starter Horacio Ramirez, ten weeks away of his 37th
birthday, turned
in another stellar performance for skipper Pedro Mere's Bulls to post
his third
consecutive playoff win.

TJ opened the
scoring in the top of the fourth inning after
Ramirez and Puebla opener Josh Outman traded zeros through the first
three entradas.Cyle
Hankerd was plunked by an Outman pitch
to lead things off for Tijuana, then moved to second after a Jorge
Cantu
strikeout when Outman walked Dustin Martin.Hankerd and Martin both advanced a base when Puebla first
baseman Nate
Freiman mishandled a Juan Apodaca grounder and was unable to make the
out at
first.Johnson appealed the call, but
replays upheld first base umpire Humberto Saiz' decision.Hankerd then came in to break the scoreless
tie on Alex Liddi's fielder's choice grounder up the middle.

The Toros
extended their lead with a pair of runs in the
fifth.Roberto Lopez' one-out homer to
left put the visitors ahead, 2-0.Corey
Brown then singled, stole second during an Outman walk to Hankerd,
moved to
third on a 6-4 forceout at second on a Cantu ground ball and plated a
run on
Martin's liner into left.The final run
of the night was pushed across in the top of the sixth as Liddi walked
to open
the inning, took second on Isaac Rodriguez' 1-3 comebacker to Outman on
the
hill and moved to third on an Outman wild pitch to Jose Guadalupe
Chavez before
scoring on Chavez' single to right to put the score at 4-0.

Ramirez carried
his cushioned shutout two outs into the
eighth, when Mere brought in Juan Sandoval from the bullpen after a
walk to
Pericos shortstop Alberto Carreon. Sandoval did what he's been doing
since the
opening series against Aguascalientes, closing out the eighth and
turning in a
scoreless ninth to mark his ninth consecutive postseason appearance
without being
scored upon, giving up two hits and striking out five over 9.2 innings.Sandoval has pitched heroically in the
playoffs for Tijuana, forming a terrific troika from the bullpen with
middleman
Mark Serrano and closer Jason Urquidez, both of whom were rested Friday.While the Toros starters haven't always had
it easy, those three relievers have been lights-out since the first
round
against the Rieleros.

But the true
hero of the night was Ramirez.Treated
roughly at times by Seattle fans when
he pitched for the Mariners in 2007 (one teammate was current Tijuana
GM Jorge
Campillo) and went 8-7 in 20 starts but with a 7.16 ERA, the 6'1" lefty
was rock-solid during his 7.2-inning stint, allowing no runs on five
hits and
two walks.Although Friday marked Ramirez'
second straight outing with no strikeouts, the win was his third
straight in
the playoffs after beating Monterrey twice in the LMB North finals.The Californian also registered four shutout
innings at Aguascalientes in an August 17 no-decision.His postseason ERA is now 1.13 in 24 total
innings.

Outman took the
loss for the Pericos, but the former Oakland
starter/Colorado middleman did not pitch all that badly, giving up
three earned
runs in 5.1 innings on six hits.However, the 32-year-old lefty had control problems for his
second start
in a row with four walks, making it nine Annie Oakleys (look it up)
over his
last 10.1 innings.Lopez and Hankerd
both had two hits for the winners, with the former homering and the
latter
doubling.Six different Puebla batters
had one hit apiece as Carreon and Cesar Tapia each hit two-baggers.

Two more games
(if Game Four is scheduled for Saturday night
in Puebla as Pericos manager Tim Johnson sends Andres Meza to the mound
against
former big leaguer Sergio Mitre for the Toros.Meza was 5-6 with a 5.06 ERA in the regular season, but shut
Leon out
over 5.1 innings in the first round of the playoffs and beat Yucatan in
the LMB
South title set clincher, 4-3, on August 31.Mitre was a combined 5-3 and 3.10 in nine game (eight of them
starts)
for Leon and Tijuana.The ex-Yankees
reliever has pitched in three postseason games, going 1-1 with a 1.54
ERA,
shutting out Aguascalientes over four frames of relief in a 4-0 Game
Five win
in the LMB North semis on August 18.

However, it
remains to be seen as this is written whether
Hurrican Katia allows either game to be played.Baseball may be life to some, but life itself is bigger than
baseball.Between life and baseball,
only one is a game.Cuidense,
muchachos!